Irene Turner
In my life I’ve moved 34 times, in three countries on two continents, and have traveled the world for both business and pleasure. All that moving inspired in me a need to feel at home, and a desire to help others create that feeling of home too.
I started my first job in the fashion industry as a trend director, product developer, and color specialist. This job entailed spending about 75% of my time on a plane, in a hotel room, and in temporary offices.
I finally left the Fashion business after 15 years, mainly because I contracted that near-fatal disease called corporate burn out!
I then started my own interior design firm, both because of my desire to create home wherever I was, and because of my passion for beauty in all forms. Before I knew it, the pace picked up, and once again I was on airplanes and in hotels serving an international cliental.
By 2001, I knew that if I continued at this pace, some aspect of my Self would die, and the life I dreamed of would never be. So, without a plan, I packed up and moved to Northern California where I knew no one. I landed in the small town of Bodega on the Sonoma County Coastline, population 176. Yikes!
Personally, it was exactly what I needed. I spent the first two years re-inventing myself, regaining my health, and literally, slowing down. I still traveled for my business, but when I was home, I walked in nature, spent time lying in the sand dunes listening to the ocean, and strengthening my meditation and yoga practice.
I slowed down enough that after nineteen years of being single I met, and married an incredible man. While I never had children of my own, I inherited two wonderful sons, the oldest of which brought home a terrific daughter-in-law, and, best of all, we now have the brightest and most beautiful grandbaby-in-the-world! (With another on the way)
I live in Sonoma County, which is a wine capital. Plentiful, fresh, and really good food is considered a norm, and of course great wine is accessible everywhere. And, did I mention how beautiful it is here?
All of these reasons and more have helped me feel at home in a way I’ve never had before. It has led me to slow down and consider life in a more (w)holistic way.
I still LOVE to travel, love beauty in all forms, love my husband, family and friends. I am a woman, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, YaYa, friend, traveler, meditator, yogi, designer, writer, ex-fashionista, techie, foodie, student, teacher, Virgo, change agent! And you?
I look forward to becoming a part of this fabulous community of women.
